Investigating the role of attachment, mentalization and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in predicting the tendency to use substance in nurses

Nursing is a stressful job and is associated with various behavioral and psychological consequences; Therefore, The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of attachment, mentalization and cognitive emotion regulation in predicting the tendency to use substance in nurses.

The method of this study was descriptive-correlation. The research community consisted of all nurses in the emergency department of hospitals and medical centers in Shiraz. In this study, 160 people were selected through convenience sampling and answered the Adult Attachment Inventory (1987), reflective activity questionnaire (2016), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (2001), and Iranian Addiction Potential Scale (2008). The collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multivariate regression analysis in SPSS-24 software.

The results showed that there is a negative and significant correlation between the secure attachment style (r = -0.175, p < 0.05), the confidence component of mentalization (r = - 0.187, p < 0.05), and the adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (r = -0.564, p < 0.01) with the tendency to use substance in nurses. There is a positive and significant correlation between the insecure attachment style (r=0.351, p<0.01), the uncertainty component of mentalization (r=0.242, p<0.01) and the maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation (r=0.348, p<0.01) with the tendency to use substance in nurses. The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that 48.7% of the variance of tendency to use substance is explained by attachment, mentalization and cognitive emotion regulation.

The result of the research shows the significant role of attachment styles, mentalization and cognitive emotion regulation in predicting the tendency to use drugs in nurses, which can help to recognize and improve the factors and motivations of nurses who have a tendency to use substance.